


Polaris

by superhoney



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canada, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Banff National Park, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, Sort Of, Stargazing, Trapped In Elevator, ski trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-03 20:51:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17291198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superhoney/pseuds/superhoney
Summary: There was no shuddering lurch, no creaking of cables, no spark of light. Nothing to indicate that something was about to go terribly wrong.The gondola simply stopped, swaying slightly under its own weight but no longer traveling smoothly upwards.Dean blinked, frowned, and said, “What the fuck?”---Your classic "trapped in an elevator together" AU, but in a mountainside gondola instead.





	Polaris

**Author's Note:**

  * For [starespressos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/starespressos/gifts).



> Yesterday, during a discussion of favourite tropes, I offered a prompt fic as a prize to whoever could guess mine. [starespressos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/starespressos/profile) won, and gave me the lovely prompt that became this fic, along with an excuse to finally use the Alternate Universe- Canada tag, which always cracks me up. I hope you like it, my dear!

There was no shuddering lurch, no creaking of cables, no spark of light. Nothing to indicate that something was about to go terribly wrong. 

The gondola simply stopped, swaying slightly under its own weight but no longer traveling smoothly upwards.

Dean blinked, frowned, and said, “What the fuck?”

Across from him, Cas turned his head to the side, peering out the window of their car into the darkness below. “We seem to have stopped.”

“Gee, thanks, Captain Obvious,” Dean muttered. Cas shot him a mildly annoyed glare, then continued to look out the window. “What I mean is, _why_ did we stop?”

Before Cas could open his mouth to answer, a tinny voice crackled through the speaker system above them. “Your attention please, your attention please. We have made an emergency stop. Thank you for your patience. The Banff Gondola Experience will resume shortly.”

Dean squeezed his eyes shut against the panic rising in his throat. He had been enjoying the gondola ride so far, the lights of the town spread out below them like something off a postcard. The ride was steady enough to calm his initial nerves, and he’d chosen to sit facing upwards to reduce his chances of being overwhelmed by dizziness. He’d been so proud of himself for not allowing his fear of heights to spoil this experience for them. Until now.

“Dean?” Cas had turned away from the window and was regarding him with a look of mild concern. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Dean waved a dismissive hand in the air between them. Fortunately, they had the car to themselves, Charlie and Alicia having elected to use the bathroom at the foot of the mountain and promising to catch up with them at the peak. Dean hoped they hadn’t yet boarded and were still safely on the ground, where he desperately wished to be. 

There was a long pause, and then Cas said, “Shit. You’re afraid of heights.”

“I’m fine,” Dean repeated, but his words rang false even to his own ears. “Emergency stop, no big deal, right? I’m sure it happens all the time.”

“Right.” Cas nodded, running a hand through his hair and leaving it even more dishevelled than before. “The announcement said service would resume shortly. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”

“Maybe somebody spilled something and they needed to clean up the mess.” Dean didn’t believe it, not for a second, but it made him feel a little bit better to imagine scenarios that didn’t end with them plunging to their deaths.

“Or a family has been separated at the top and they need to make sure the others get on the next available car.” Cas was humouring him, clearly, but Dean was grateful for it. If he had to be stuck in this tiny suspended metal box with anyone, he was glad it was Cas.

They’d received this trip to Banff, all expenses paid, as a holiday bonus. As much as Cas occasionally went off on rants about how he couldn’t wait to leave Sandover for a smaller, more forward-thinking company, he couldn’t deny that the perks were excellent. A long weekend ski trip in the mountains, rooms at the Fairmont, and a hefty spending allowance-- it was the most lavish vacation Dean had been treated to in years. 

He really hoped they would survive it.

A few minutes passed in tense silence. Cas still had his face pressed to the glass, as though he would be able to see anything in the darkness. They were about two-thirds of the way up, high enough that looking down for too long made Dean nervous. It had been fine while they were still moving, but the unnatural stillness was weighing on him.

Of course, Cas noticed. “Hey,” he said. “Dean. Look at me.”

Dean dragged his eyes away from the window and met Cas’ steady gaze. He had a grey plaid scarf wrapped snugly around his neck, his cheeks still tinged pink from the cold, and for a moment, Dean was distracted by how good he looked. But only for a moment. 

Cas tilted his head to the side, eyes soft. “I shouldn’t have suggested we include this as part of our activities.” 

“This isn’t your fault,” Dean insisted, though in a way it was. They’d already spent the past two days hitting the slopes, and today was their last day, which they had elected to spend in town. After an early dinner at a fondue restaurant, where they had amused themselves with the phones at every table that could connect them to other diners, Cas had suggested the gondola ride. He had heard the view from the top of Sulphur Mountain was incredible. Since they were already there and had the cash to spend, Dean had agreed. He’d gotten somewhat used to ski lifts over the years, and he’d figured that a gondola would be even more secure, seeing as it was actually enclosed. 

“I still feel bad.” Cas grimaced, shifting in his seat. The gondola swung slightly with his movement, and Dean flinched. Cas’s eyes widened and he froze in place, holding himself carefully still. “And now I feel even worse.”

“It’s not your fault,” Dean repeated. “I thought it would be fine. Years of tagging along on your family’s ski trips have been good for me, I can admit, and I even survived the flight up here without too much trauma.”

“You were very brave,” Cas agreed, and while it might have sounded condescending coming from anyone else, Dean couldn’t help but be warmed by the praise. “I remember the first time I convinced you to come on the family trip with us, how terrified you were of the ski lift. You’ve come a long way since then.”

Dean could picture it perfectly: both of them lanky, gawky teens, bundled up in layers of cold weather gear that had them stumbling slightly as Mr. and Mrs. Novak steered them towards the lift. The way Cas had guided him so carefully, the terrifying moment when he lost contact with the ground and the surprising thrill he got when he slid off the chair at the top of the mountain without mishap. The way Cas had pulled him quickly aside as Gabriel and Balthazar followed after them, their good-natured teasing as they headed off for one of the more difficult runs. 

“That was a long time ago,” Dean said softly. 

Cas gave him a small smile. “Fifteen years, by my count.”

“Christ.” Dean shook his head. “Can’t believe you’re still hanging around my sorry ass after all this time.”

Cas opened his mouth, then shook his head, a strange expression passing over his face. “Do you want to know a secret?”

There wasn’t much else to do, and Dean would welcome the distraction. “Yeah, sure.”

Leaning forward slightly, but slowly enough not to rock the gondola, Cas lowered his voice to a whisper. “I was always afraid of the ski lift, too.”

Dean blinked at him, eyes narrowing in disbelief. “You were not. You were a total pro.”

Cas shook his head. “Not at all. Gabriel and Balthazar used to tease me about it all the time. But when you came with us for the first time, there was finally someone more nervous than me. And in helping you find your courage, I found my own.”

Dean sat back, all the air knocked out of his lungs at Cas’ statement. He had an uncanny knack for doing that, saying something deceptively simple that would lodge in Dean’s chest and take his breath away. He never seemed to notice the effect his words had on Dean, never seemed to do it deliberately. It wasn’t some sort of performance, some sort of grand utterance. It was just Cas.

Cas, who had been at Dean’s side ever since the first day of high school, all the way through college and into the workplace. Cas, who had sat beside him at his father’s funeral, who had celebrated with him when he got a scholarship to college, who had supported him after his relationship with Lisa crashed and burned. 

Not for the first time, Dean wondered what he had ever done to deserve someone like Cas in his life. 

This time, though, he wondered it out loud.

“Deserve?” Cas repeated, a slight frown creasing his brow. Dean immediately regretted letting the words escape him. “I don’t understand.”

Dean shrugged, keeping the movement small so as not to disturb the car. “Think about it. There you were, bringing me along on your family’s trips all those years, giving me the kind of experience my family could never afford. Always being there for me, even now when I’m freaking out hundreds of feet above the ground. And I’m just--” he shrugged again. 

“Weren’t you listening to anything I just said?” Cas shook his head, eyes clouded. “Did you never wonder why I wanted you to come along on our trips so badly?”

“Not really, no. I just thought you were tired of your family, honestly.”

A brief grin lit up Cas’ face. “Well, there was that. But my relationship with my family is complicated, to say the least. My brothers are so much older than me, and I was always trailing after them and my parents. I didn’t make friends easily, but I was always so comfortable around you, and like I said, just having you there made me brave in a way I never had been before.”

Dean frowned, replaying memories of all his interactions with Cas’ family over the years. His parents had always been polite to Dean, if not exactly warm, and while Gabriel and Balthazar weren’t cruel, their joking often involved Cas and Dean as targets. Things had changed in recent years, of course, now that the age gap seemed less significant, but he could see how hard it might have been for Cas, growing up that way. 

“Huh,” he said. “Nothing like high altitude to give you a fresh perspective, I guess.”

Cas smiled, eyes brightening. “Are we turning our suffering into a learning experience? How cliché.”

“Shut up, you love it.”

“I do,” Cas agreed, still smiling. 

The angle of their car, frozen in place along the slope, meant that Dean was looking slightly upwards into Cas’ face. It was a good face, dear and familiar after all these years, but it was also a startlingly attractive one. Dean licked his lips unconsciously, wondering what it might feel like to press them against Cas’, to bury his hands in that soft hair and to murmur sweet words against the sharp line of his jaw. For so long, he’d considered Cas unattainable, out of reach. And now here he was, literally above Dean, but never closer to his grasp.

If only Dean weren’t so terrified of moving and disturbing the gondola.

Maybe he couldn’t be quite brave enough to do that, but he could find enough courage for something else. After all, that was what they did-- they made each other brave. So he took a deep breath and said, “Cas?”

“Yes, Dean?”

“I really want to kiss you right now.”

The look of pure shock on Cas’ face might have made Dean laugh under less stressful circumstances. His heart pounded in his chest, but he forced himself to hold Cas’ gaze, to let himself be vulnerable. 

“You--I--” Dean had never seen Cas so lost for words. “You want to-- me?”

“Yeah, Cas,” Dean said softly. “Except that I’m way too scared to slide over there.”

Cas nodded, then slowly stretched out one leg until rested against Dean’s. Even that small point of contact steadied him, cleared the buzzing in his ears and the slight tremble of his hands. It didn’t help the racing of Dean’s heart, though. Cas’ acceptance, his acknowledgment, hung heavily between them, the moment suspended just as their gondola was.

Finally, Cas broke the silence. “When we get to the top,” he said. His voice was low, even rougher than usual, and Dean shivered at the sound of it. 

“Now I have even more of a reason to want to get this thing moving.” Dean shifted his leg slightly so that more of it was pressed along Cas’ and gave him a small smile. “Declarations of feeling during a time of heightened emotion? Even more of a cliché.”

“Technically,” Cas said, eyes roving over Dean’s face, “that was a declaration of intent, not of feeling.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “Fine. How’s this: you’re the most important person in my life, Cas, and I’ve been in love with you for years.”

“Better,” Cas replied, smiling widely. “Much better.”

“You’re supposed to say it back, you asshole.”

Sighing dramatically, Cas shook his head. “Fine. I love you, Dean Winchester, even if your taste in endearments leaves a great deal to be desired.”

“I guess I’ll just have to get in a lot of practice.” Dean was grinning like a fool now, but he couldn’t help himself. “Baby? Darling? Sweetcheeks?”

Cas shook his head as though in despair, but Dean could see the telltale flush of pleasure in his cheeks. “Incorrigible,” he muttered under his breath. “Glad to see you’re back to your usual irritatingly charming self, though.”

In the giddiness of their confessions, Dean had almost forgotten about their precarious situation. “Oh,” he said. “Would you look at that.”

Before he could say anything further, the speaker crackled to life above them. “Your attention please, your attention please. We are pleased to announce that the issue has been resolved and service on the Banff Gondola will resume momentarily. Thank you for your patience, and enjoy the rest of your trip.”

“If I didn’t know any better,” Cas commented, “I would think someone had engineered this entire situation to prompt us towards this development in our relationship.”

Dean laughed as the gondola began moving again, climbing steadily upwards. “I wouldn’t put it past Charlie, you know.”

Cas just shook his head, pressed his leg against Dean’s, and turned to look out the window once more. Dean glanced out briefly, but honestly, he preferred looking at Cas’ profile, the warm feeling in his chest increasing as they rose higher and higher.

The second the gondola door opened at the peak, Cas wrapped one hand around Dean’s wrist and tugged him away from the disembarkment area. There was a split second pause where they looked deeply into each other’s eyes, and then they were kissing, all of Dean’s relief and affection pouring out of him in a rush. His knees were shaking slightly, but Cas’ arms were strong around him, supportive as always. 

After a moment, or possibly an eternity, Dean pulled away slightly, burying his head in Cas’ hair the way he had long wanted to do. It was just as soft as he had imagined, and it smelled like roses from the fancy shampoo at their hotel. Cas laughed softly and tightened his embrace. 

They stood that way until Dean heard a familiar voice from behind them. “Uh, what?” Charlie said.

Dean turned, keeping one arm around Cas’ shoulders, to see Charlie and Alicia staring at them with matching expressions of surprise on their faces. “We’re a terrible cliché, apparently,” he offered by way of explanation.

“I mean, obviously.” Charlie folded her arms across her chest and shrugged. “Best friends secretly pining for each other for years, we knew that.”

“The kissing, though.” Alicia raised an eyebrow and gave a nod of what might have been respect. “That’s new.”

“Better get used to it,” Dean informed them, smiling brightly as he laced his hand into Cas’. “I don’t plan on this just being a situational thing.”

Cas gave him a look of such overwhelming fondness that Dean simply had to kiss him again, though he kept it brief. 

“Okay. Cool.” Charlie shook her head, but she winked at Dean, wordlessly letting him know that she was happy for him. “Can we go stargazing now?”

Dean frowned at her. “What?”

“Dean.” Cas shook his head. “Weren’t you listening? That was the whole reason we waited until tonight to do the gondola ride. There’s a stargazing activity at the top at night.”

“Right.” Dean scratched his head, embarrassed. “I, uh, might have completely forgotten about that.”

“Twitterpated,” Charlie muttered under her breath. “Come on, Winchester. I didn’t spend twenty minutes stuck in a gondola just to immediately ride back down again.”

With that, she marched off, Alicia casting an amused look over her shoulder as she followed. “Do you want to go back?” Cas asked, squeezing Dean’s hand through their gloves. “If you just want to be at normal altitude again, I’d understand completely.”

“Nah.” Dean grinned at him, gesturing to the expanse of boardwalks and buildings around them. “This is pretty cool. The ground’s solid beneath my feet, and I’ve got you to hold onto. I’m good.”

“Then let’s go.” Cas tugged him forward, and they soon caught up to Charlie and Alicia, who immediately launched into the story of how they’d been stuck in their gondola with two young German tourists who had been all too delighted about the experience, documenting the entire thing on their phones for their friends back home. 

It was surprisingly familiar, the dynamic between all of them. In some ways, it felt like nothing had changed, but in the most important way, everything had. Dean kept sneaking glances at Cas with almost every step, reassuring himself that this was real, that it wasn’t some fantasy he’d concocted to get him through the experience of being trapped in the gondola. Cas kept doing the same, looking over and giving him that small, secret smile, until Dean finally let himself believe something this precious could have landed at his feet.

They soon reached the area that had been set up for stargazing, with impressively large telescopes and friendly staff members wandering around offering tips on nighttime photography. Dean let out a low whistle and led Cas towards one of the telescopes, waiting for the line behind it to clear. 

“This is incredible.” Cas was leaning over the railing, face tilted up towards the sky. The stars shone brightly in the velvet sky, so close Dean almost felt he could reach out and touch them. Then Cas gasped and grabbed Dean’s upper arm, sharp even through the thick jacket he was wearing. “Dean, look.”

Dean tore his gaze away from the starlit lines of Cas’ profile and looked in the direction he was pointing. Multi-hued lights danced in the sky, green and purple and pink swirls that shimmered with an energy that left Dean speechless. 

“The Northern Lights?” he asked, voice low. 

“I’ve always wanted to see them.” Cas pressed one hand to his mouth, eyes enormous. “God, they’re even more beautiful than I could have imagined.”

“You’d get a better view further out, away from the lights in town.” Charlie had come up quietly beside them, and though her words were somewhat disparaging, her eyes were soft with wonder. “Or so Google informed me when I checked whether this was a possibility. But I don’t know how it could possibly get better than this.”

Cas hummed in agreement, casting a soft look towards Dean, and Dean reached out, pulling him back to lean against his chest. He rested his cheek in that dark, rose-scented hair, watching the lights dance in the sky above them, knowing he would never forget this night for the rest of his life. “No,” he said. “I don’t know how it could get better than this, either.”


End file.
